In any case, our time up North (California north, not minnesota "north") was fantastic. Here are Quinn and Penelope just as we first saw the ocean on the way up. Moin and I were screaming, "look at the ocean! look at the ocean!"
As soon as we got there on Christmas day evening, we went out for Indian food. Of course, the first place we found was delicious and cheap, which made us wish we could stay forever.
We were so lucky to stay at my cousin Susan's house when we got there, and she left the most adorable gift baskets for the kids. They were SO EXCITED to get them. Thank you, Susan, Eva and Gehrig, for making our family feel so at home.
The kids also loved her Christmas tree.
We were of course there to spend Christmas with the Syed family, which we did the very next morning. Grandma Amy made some impressive SF giants scarfs for all of us. Quinn has lived in his ever since we returned to Minnesota.
The girls loved their minnie mouse dolls that they received, and all the kids loved their handmade hats. Quinn's was made to look like "candy corn" by Grandma Amy, and he thinks that is just awesome.
Overall, the kids loved playing with Grandma Amy and dancing with Khalil. Khalil, they still do the "Khalil dance" all the time! Quinn also enjoyed working a new lego set with Amman.
We also had a great visit to San Jose's Christmas in the park, as well as several other parks in the neighborhood.
Our time with our family is always too short, but we were so happy to see all of you!
We also saw many friends while up North. The kids got a short but fun visit with Todd and Megan. I didn't get any pictures of Todd, because he was helping Moin remove a splinter from a very uncooperative quinn's finger for most of the time. Yikes. The girls, however, were obsessed with Megan.
We saw our best buddies, the Ellis family, and the kids were so happy to play together again. I wish they lived next door - these five kids really are a team.
We also saw my cousins Sarah, Brian, Andrew and Leah.
While we drove up and down along the water a bunch, we only managed a teeny-tiny trip to the beach (about 10 minutes). Still, it was about the happiest I've seen Moin in a while, perhaps due to the burritos we picked up while there. Beaches and burritos are a pretty amazing combination.
While up North, we spent an evening at Alexander, Amy and Luna's house in Alameda. They were away, and were kind enough to let us stay. We are a full traveling operation - we will stay wherever, and are always thrilled with our accommodations.
That said, Luna's house was extra special because of this amazing playroom.
and because of Boyd, Emma and August's visit while we were there!
As usual, we got to visit with the Juang family on our drive back down south, and Quinn went crazy with Tayo and Keanu. He was so happy to see kids his age, that I think he acted kind of insane.
Once again, we are thankful to all of our friends and family for welcoming our traveling circus. We miss you all so much already!
